Endeavour Mining Corporation, listed on the TSX, has announced that excellent progress continues to be made at its Ity CIL project in Côte d’Ivoire, as wet commissioning has commenced. ore is expected to be introduced into the process plant milling circuit in the coming days.

An aerial view of the Ity CIL site.

Construction is progressing on-budget with over 97 % of the total project complete and the first gold pour expected to occur two months ahead of schedule in early Q2-2019. Over 8 million man-hours have been worked without a lost time injury.

Demobilisation of construction personnel has begun following the completion of key construction milestones, and operating teams are in place with training programmes well underway.

Ity is expected to produce 160 – 200 koz in 2019 at an AISC of US$525 – 590/oz, with the bottom-end production guidance corresponding to the nameplate capacity while the top-end factors in possible upsides such as an earlier start date, a quicker than expected ramp-up and the plant producing above its nameplate.

Sébastien de Montessus, President & CEO, stated: “We are proud of the key milestones achieved in recent months as the project construction has been significantly de-risked. We are excited to have commenced the commissioning phase several months ahead of the initial schedule and look forward to the first gold pour in early Q2-2019.

“The start of production at Ity will be a transformative moment for Endeavour. It will become, alongside Houndé, our second flagship mine, and marks the end of several years of large capital-intensive projects which will allow us to focus on cash flow generation and generating returns on our capital employed.

“With seven drill rigs currently operating in the Le Plaque area, we expect our additional exploration activity to further demonstrate the potential of Ity.”